I thought that the best method for demonstrating the use of a wiki in education would be to model it. So I have gathered all the content for the workshop on a wiki, although I have not allowed it to be edited by others. Linda Swanson, OTAN Trainer

An Online Presence for Teachers (Prezi Alternative)

Agenda or Objectives

Introduce blogs & wikis and uses in education
Show example sites
Demonstrate ease of using Weebly
Demonstrate ease of using Wikispaces

Definitons

What is a “blog”?
A blog (a blend of the term “web log”) is a site or part of a site that is maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary or other material. The entries are displayed in reverse chronological order.

What is a “wiki”?
A wiki is also a web site that allows for the creation and editing of a number of interlinked pages by multiple individuals. It can also be used for personal note taking.
Also see the Creative Commons video on "Wikis in Plain English"

Wiki vs blog

While commenting, and even posting, are open to the members of the blog or the general public, no one is able to change a comment or a post made by another. The usual format is post-comment-comment-comment, and so on. For this reason, blogs are often the vehicle of choice to express individual opinions. A wiki has a far more open structure and allows others to change what one person has written. This openness may trump individual opinion with group consensus.See also the Creative Commons video on "Blogs in Plain English."


Examples of Educational Blogs

Weebly blogs built at http://www.weebly.com
ABE Basic Skills - Susan Coulter
Tilla Alexander's ESL Page
Diana's ESL
Eisenhower High School Chemistry
Memorable Math
My Weebly Site
Demo Weebly

Examples of Wikis

Wikipedia - most famous example of a world-wide collaborative effort
Adult Literacy Education
LiPSonline
Barry Bakin's ESL Wiki
Milpitas Adult Education Center
MiraCosta College ESL Tech
Many other examples of wikis - OTAN's page
WeBWorK Project from the Mathematical Association of America
Examples of educational Wikis

What can you do with a wiki?

Wiki Ideas for the Classroom Great site with many ideas for using wikis under "All Subjects"
Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century - Wikis in the Classroom

Workshop Handouts and Tutorial Videos






Wikispaces Video Tutorials

Create a Site Using One of These Blog Tools

Weebly Very easy to use
Wix also easy to use, but has limited educational themes.
Wordpress More full featured, but steeper learning curve. Great for tech enthusiasts
Blogger Google's Blog tool

Create a Wiki Using One of These

Wikispaces
PBWiki (Stands for Peanut Butter Wiki)

Other Web 2.0 Resources

Adult Education Technology - Teaching with Blogs & Wikis
New Web 2.0 Tools for Education
Animoto for Education (Tool for creating video from still photos, music, and text which you can embed in your wiki or blog)
Creative Commons Licensing
Educational Technology Network - Wikis and Blogs in the Classroom

Homework Assignment

If you would like an extra hour of professional development credit for this workshop, you can create a new wiki or a blog site for your class. It must have the following elements and the work must be completed within two weeks of the workshop, which would be July 9, 2013:
  • At least 3 pages
  • At least one image appropriate for the content
  • At least one embedded video appropriate to the content
  • At least one uploaded file appropriate to the content
  • At least 3 links to Internet resources for your students to access outside class for more study.

This should give you a good basis for an online Web presence. Email me the link to your wiki or blog. After I review it for all the necessary elements, I will send out your certificate showing 2.5 hours of participation instead of 1.5. If you have no intention of doing the homework, email me and I will send your certificate ASAP. My email address is lswanson at otan.us. Replace the word "at" with the @ sign. (I'm trying to avoid more SPAM than I already get. :-)